Undercover investigations keep our animals and livestock safe

Tennessee House Bill 1191 and Senate Bill 1248 are intended to stop undercover investigations that expose criminal abuse of horses and animals used for food. If these bills pass, all recordings of abuse would have to be turned over to law enforcement officers within 24 hours. It would be almost impossible to show a pattern of abuse over time. Law enforcement could do nothing with evidence like that.

If this law had been in place last year, the terrible mistreatment of walking horses could not have been successfully prosecuted. While most people may not care how food animals are treated on factory farms, they will care when those conditions lead to outbreaks of salmonella or mad cow disease. It is in the public interest to require accountability of factory farms and food processing plants.